Skechers Sprints To Multi-Year Highs After Boston Marathon

NEW YORK (AP) -- Skechers is trading near four-year highs during a banner week in which the winner of the Boston Marathon crossed the finish line wearing its shoes and a day later, it blew away Wall Street's expectations for the first quarter.

By Wednesday, analysts that follow the company were aggressively raising their target prices on the stock and shares jumped 10 percent in early trading.

Late Tuesday, the Manhattan Beach, Calif., company reported first-quarter net income of $31 million. That's more than four times higher than the $7 million it reported during the same period last year. Sales for the three months ending in March were $546.5 million. On a per-share basis, quarterly earnings worked out to 61 cents per share.

The results easily beat analyst expectations of 33 cents per share and sales of $508.8 million, according to the data provider FactSet.

The earnings beat follows a victory in the Boston Marathon by Meb Keflezighi, who was signed three years ago by the company not known for its running shoes.

Keflezighi is the company's first and only spokesman for its running shoes and he'll be showing up in Skechers TV commercials in short order.

Christopher Svezia, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, raised his price target for the company from $40 to $48. Svezia pointed to stronger international sales and increasing market share in the U.S., among other reasons.

Shares in Skechers are up $4.53, or 12 percent, to $41.40 ahead of the start of regular trading Wednesday. They had traded as high as $37.83 and as low as $19.99 over the past 12 months.